


Companions

by midnight_drabbler



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Beginnings of a relationship, Drabble, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-12
Updated: 2017-04-12
Packaged: 2018-10-18 00:17:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10605330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnight_drabbler/pseuds/midnight_drabbler
Summary: Jaal reflects on, and explores, his feelings for Ryder. Set prior to the beginning of the relationship, not long after Jaal and Ryder meet on Aya.





	

**Author's Note:**

> First fic I've written for any fandom in a looooooong time. Just dipping my toe back into the pool, as I finished Andromeda and couldn't get it out of my head. 
> 
> Constructive criticism and general feedback is appreciated!

**Companions**

Jaal tinkers with his equipment in the tech lab. He knows he’s supposed to be focused on the development of improvements to the _Tempest_ , cultivating stronger connections with the Andromeda Initiative by providing some angaran military info.

He looks down at his datapad, where he should be taking notes for Evfra and the Moshae. Notes about what he’s offered so that they can keep track, in case things go badly – as they had with the kett.

He knows that it’s wise to be cautious. Careful. These new aliens could be just the same. Could cause a repeat of the darkest time in angaran history.

He sighs deeply. Rubs his eyes firmly. As part of the resistance, he had always had strong senses. Never second guessed himself. He’d known when captured enemies had been truly bad, and when they’d simply been corrupted to further someone else’s agenda.

He did have a strong feeling about this Ryder. He did. However, it seemed to be the absolute opposite of Evfra’s feeling towards Ryder.

She’s soft. Softer than an angara, but he remembers being in the Nomad on Voeld; he and Liam had been wailing about sailing off the side of a cliff down to the remnant monolith below. It had been incredibly dangerous. The sky had been dark, and the snow was slippery. The Nomad had gone completely airborne on more than one occasion.

He had been terrified. As he recalls it, both men had loudly announced that they’d been terrified. But she? Ryder? In the dim light of the Nomad’s controls, he had seen her face split into a wild grin. She may have briefly lost control, but instead of being terrified, she had looked absolutely… stunning.

He thinks of it often. That face. Those soft edges. Her wild hair, always trying to escape what she called a ‘pony tail’. Especially in gravity well;, her hair in gravity wells was amazing. Not only did it move a thousand tiny movements to every one of hers, but it also shone like a glimmering brunette wave.

Evfra would scold him. Might do more than scold him, if he found out that Jaal was thinking of the Pathfinder like this. A persistent thought. More than persistent. One long continuous background thought, which edged its way into the forefront whenever possible.

He places the datapad and his tools back onto the bench. Steps back. Stretches deeply before heading over to his bed. Sitting on the edge, he puts his head in his hand. They’re scheduled to head to Eos soon, to check in with someone named Bradley who seems to be running their newest colony.

Jaal asked Liam about Eos, and Prodromos, after reading the files on the ship computer. He had learned that Eos was warm, but not unbearably so. Jaal had made a note, and prepacked a bag for the Nomad with ten bottles of water and a small box of nutrient paste.

He would have packed snacks for Ryder, but he wasn’t sure what she’d like.He'd ask her, but lately when he’d seen her, his stomach had tightened. Not painfully, but in an unsettling way.

He’d felt nerves before, of course. When he was a young angara, when he’d been enamoured with a girl. Not in love, he realised now, but infatuated. Intensely infatuated. Somehow, beyond imagination, this felt even stronger.

He didn’t just want to touch Ryder. Didn’t just want to lose himself in her, like he had when he was young. He wanted to remain himself… but better. Improved by her. He wanted to know her; her nuances and angles. He wanted to explore her. Her mind and body. He wanted to learn from her. Learn how to open his heart to take in the world, and allow himself to grow.

He’d seen her. Standing on the crests of mountains wind whipping her hair with her face bright pink from the cold, and he’d seen her at the vidcon late into the night inhaling the fumes of a coffee she’d long emptied dark circles forming under her eyes. She never gave up though. She was never without hope.

He, and the other angara, lived with a sense of hope that one day an unending battle would end. That they would claw their way back to what they had. Return to before they had made their fateful mistake. But she? Ryder. She looked at the world with optimism. Looked at the galaxy with optimism.

He’d heard Lexi once, recording notes via audio into the datapad, saying that Ryder was led by such faith that she thought she couldn’t be injured. That she was invincible. Jaal had thought not much about it at the time. Ryder was always in a risky position, but she was the Pathfinder. Looking back on it now, Jaal believed that Ryder wasn’t reckless.

She was selfless. She’d always rather be the one brought back to the _Tempest_ with an injury, rather than let anyone else be hurt on her watch. Countless times, he’d seen her jump out of cover to take down an enemy sneaking up on one of them. He’d also seen her dead eye a sharp shooter with a sniper rifle at over 100 paces.

She was amazing. He was amazed.

It was a new feeling for Jaal. This lump in his throat. This knot in his stomach. He was used to feeling fluid. Everything flowing free. But sometimes when he was with Ryder, he just couldn’t find the right words. Sometimes they sat in silence. Not an awkward silence, but a companionable one.

Companions.

 

 

A lovely word. An _awful_ word.  

 


End file.
